2008 Thrashers Draft Party

Last night was the 2008 NHL Draft. I managed to talk Matt, Erica and Peter into going to Philips Arena for the Thrashers Draft Party. I had gone a few years ago with Scott. That year, they opened up the whole arena and let people sit wherever they wanted to watch the draft on the big screen. There were games for kids going on where the ice usually is.

Well, this year was a bit different. The actual arena was not available, apparently some kind of an AARP dress rehearsal was going on inside an they weren't allowing anyone in. So, instead we hung outside the main concourse and watched the draft on a bunch of big screens. And a local sports radio station was broadcasting live. The area was pretty small, but crowded. We got there early enough to get a table, but so many people were standing, I sometimes had a tough time seeing the TV's! I noticed a guy with a camera lurking, so I started doing some acting. Pointing at the draft scout sheet we were handed as we walked in and I acted like I was pointing something out to Erica. Next thing I knew the photographer was asking us for our names! Cool!

The drafted started, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman got booed when he got things underway. Tampa Bay had the first pick, as expected they took Steven Stamkos. Everyone at Philips booed. LA was up next and took defenceman (we had arguments for a while why they spell it with a "c"...no winner in that argument yet) Drew Doughty. Next up were the Thrashers. We all were wanting and hoping for defenceman Zach Bogosian. Gary Bettman came to the podium and announced that there was a trade. I think everyone's in the room went silent. Or just screamed, "noooooooooooooooooo". Well, it turned out the trade had nothing to do with the Thrashers, we all breathed a sigh of relief! Finally, Thrashers GM Don Wadell made his way to podium, everyone at Philips booed. :) But they took Zach Bogosian, and we all yelled, "Bogo! Bogo! Bogo!"

After an incredibly slow first round, a couple of hours later, only a couple of picks later, we headed over to the new Taco Mac for the rest of the first round. It is actually inside Philips Arena. I'm not a fan of Taco Mac, but its cool to have a place like that within the arena now.

All in all, it was a good time, probably the last time to get to enjoy anything Thrasher-related until September, so I did my best.

Help End Breast Cancer

We interrupt this usually-amusing blog so that you can do some good. I'm a sucker for boobs and my friend Janice is doing something to help save them. Last year, she participated in this 3-day breast cancer walk and managed to get her poor little foot hurt and wound up needing surgery and was on crutches for a while! And she's STILL doing it all over again. What a trooper! Without further uh-do, my friend Janice has the floor (or keyboard I guess)...

Yes, I'm doing it again - I signed up for the 2008 Breast Cancer 3-Day! I had such an incredible experience doing the 3-Day last year that I'm going back for more. I'm so excited about this event, even though this year I really know what I've gotten myself into.

I need your help. I am planning on surpassing the $2,735.00 that you - my friends and family - gave so generously last time around to help fight breast cancer.

This year, instead of walking in Atlanta again, I am walking in San Francisco, September 5-7, 2008!

Just follow the link below to visit my personal fundraising page and make a donation.

If you have any questions or want to hear more about what I'm doing, I love talking about the event. Thanks for all of your support. I'm incredibly lucky to have people like you in my life!

Love,

Janice Ratner

P.S. Don't wait - donate today!

If you haven't already seen them, here is the link to my pictures from last years 3Day! http://picasaweb.google.com/JMR8218/3Day

Click here to visit my personal page.

For more information about the Breast Cancer 3-Day, Susan G. Komen for the Cure or the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund, visit http://www.the3day.org/ or call 800.996.3DAY.

Why I'm Dumb (Part 295)

I know I've said this before, but this deserves to count for WAYYYYY more than one.

I think I'm a pretty typical single guy. I don't cook too often, therefore I don't clean too often. Well, 2 weekends ago Laurens' dad and sister (Meredith) were coming for a weekend visit. I decided to give the kitchen a good old cleaning for once. I scrubbed everything down, counter tops, stove, sink...

Well, it took about a week and a half before I was next going to make use of the stove. I turned on the main burner I usually use and noticed something weird. The flame was A LOT higher than normal. I thought better of actually using it, and checked some of the other burners...none of the other three worked. The just made the clicking sound. Seems strange, like all the gas was going to the one burner. Luckily I've got a home warranty on my appliances, so for just $55 a guy will come out and either fix or replace whatever isn't working.

Not that this was an easy process, I called the warranty people Sunday night and they said someone would call me Monday morning. They did, left me a message before I even got to work. I called them back right away, left a message and heard nothing back all day. Called again after work, still nothing. Well, first thing Tuesday morning, just as I was getting out of the shower, they called me. I finally setup an appointment for Wednesday between 4-6pm. Luckily Lauren has a flexible work schedule and is able to be home for stuff like this. Well, she also planned on going out of town, so was hoping for them to show closer to 4pm than to 6pm. Well, the guy didn't show until 6:40 (of course). (sorry, and thanks again Lauren!)

Now for the reason for tonight's blog. The guy walks over to the stove and IMMEDIATELY sees the problem. When I was cleaning the stove, I took the cap-things off of each burner to clean. Well, apparently they're different sizes and I PUT THEM BACK IN THE WRONG SPOTS!!!!! I'm sure deep down inside the guy got a good laugh at my expense and walked out with my not-well-spent-$55 :(

How dumb do I feel????? Although, I could've sworn I tested the burners without those covers on at all and they still didn't work. So I'm not totally sure I understand all this. But...lesson learned. No more cleaning the kitchen!!!!!

Why do I Root for Teams that Most Resemble The Bad News Bears?

College baseball doesn't get a whole lotta love, but anything FSU related gets my attention. The FSU baseball team made the College World Series for the 20th time in school history. The College World Series is an 8 team double-elimination tournament. In 20 attempts, we've managed 0 (ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, NONE, NO) championships. Even by blind luck you'd think we'd find an acorn at least once, right? Wrong! And this year was no different. But that doesn't mean they don't keep teasing me. On Saturday, with FSU (featuring the nation's best offense, averaging almost 10 runs a game) losing 5-2 in the bottom of the 8th to Stanford, they tie the game at 5 on a huge 3-run HR by 2nd baseman Jason Stidham. Finally, signs of life! So go to the top of the 9th. And I have never in all my life seen the things that happened, happen in a game. With a couple of runners on base, a guy from Stanford hits a hard line drive down the first base line. It goes past first base in fair territory, lands - apparently - right on the line and then hooks foul. Should be a fair ball, but the umpire points convincingly that it was a foul ball. That would've scored a couple of runs. Clearly a blown call, but what can you do? Instead of seizing the opportunity, FSU went the other direction. I'm pretty sure they felt bad for Stanford, so they let them score 11...ELEVEN...ONCE (thats spanish) runs. Included in this fiasco were two terrible errors by the somewhat injured and always terrible defensive shortstop, Tony Delmonico. Dude made 30 errors this season, which was about 60 games. Even I could do better than that! He had more errors than the rest of the team combined (ok, I didn't look that up, but someone told me so it has to be true). They do rank 171 in the NCAA in fielding percentage. 171! How is that even possible for a team ranked #4 in the entire country???

So after losing 16-5 on Saturday, FSU next faced #1 Miami (who also lost because of a bad 9th inning on Saturday) of all teams in an elimination game. FSU and Miami had a bench clearing brawl back in April in Tallahassee. Now remember, this is baseball, so by "brawl" I mean each player from both teams came out of the dugout, stayed plenty far away from each other and had a staring contest. Last night (for me it was last night, the game was at 2pm, but with the miracle that is DVR, the game started at about 6pm) FSU had 14 hits in the first 8 innings and only managed 2 runs. Thats nauseating! (wow I spelled that right!). In the bottom of the 8th, Miami hit a leadoff homer to make the score 7-2. That was about all I could take, I fast-forwarded through the rest of the inning, which somehow went pretty quietly. So now time for the 9th inning. And wouldn't ya know it, FSU's offense finally wakes up, they cut the lead to 7-5, with first and third for the NCAA Player of the Year, FSU Catcher, Buster Posey. He already had 4 hits on the day, he was one HR away from leading the nation in EVERY offensive stat. But no, he walks. Loading the bases with two outs and FSU cleanup hitter Jack Rye coming up. But alas, as is the case with any team I root for, they end their season with a loss as Rye grounded out to 2nd. FSU left an College World Series record 17 - SEVENTEEN! DIEZ Y SIETE (all those years of spanish pay off finally!) runners on base. Unbelievable.

But thats not all. The Mets. My Mets. This season was supposed to be big. They added the best pitcher in the world, Johan Santana, but they just never got it going. So even after a 9-6 win last night over one of the best teams in the American League (the I refuse to call them Los Angeles, Anaheim Angels) the Mets fired their manager (and their pitching coach and their first base coach for good measure) Willie Randolph at about 3am ET.

Ughhhhhh. No more baseball for me for a while!!!!!! (any guesses on how long that actually lasts?)

ATL Noise: Volume 6, Issue 2

It's been a loooooooong time since I've been to a concert, I'm not actually sure when the last one was. You wait there, I'm gonna go look it up...turns out it was Nov 4 in Chattanooga. I don't think I ever did write about how badly I hated Chattanooga. But I'll let that be for now. Here's a newly updated concert listing for the ATL. Note - this only includes band that I would possibly consider going to see. Crap like New Kids On the Block are not included. And yes, I'm serious I know people who paid almost $80 a ticket to see them. Here's something you should know. They're not kids anymore! And they're certainly not new! Seriously! $80!!!!


Tue 06/17/08 Liam and Me - The Masquerade
Tue 06/17/08 Ludo - The Masquerade (I just recently discovered Ludo via Jimmy Kimmel Live and have been VERY impressed, they're a fun band to listen to!)
Tue 06/17/08 Steel Train - The Masquerade
Tue 06/17/08 The Spill Canvas - The Masquerade

Tue 06/17/08 Rev Theory - The Tabernacle
Tue 06/17/08 Shinedown - The Tabernacle

Fri 06/20/08 Less Than Jake - The Masquerade
Fri 06/20/08 Mustard Plug - The Masquerade
Fri 06/20/08 Suburban Legends - The Masquerade

Sat 06/21/08 Modest Mouse - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sat 06/21/08 R.E.M. - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sat 06/21/08 The National - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Sun 06/22/08 Rancid - The Masquerade
Sun 06/22/08 The Legendary Shack Shakers - The Masquerade

Fri 06/27/08 Bob Saget - The Tabernacle (Really?)

Sat 06/28/08 Edwin McCain Band - Chastain Park Amphitheatre (Thats for Jason)

Wed 07/09/08 Gin Blossoms - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Soul Asylum - Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Wed 07/09/08 "Vans Warped Tour" - Lakewood Amphitheatre (Why does it have to be on a Wednesday????)
Wed 07/09/08 Against Me! - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Anberlin - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Angels And Airwaves - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 As I Lay Dying - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Jack's Mannequin - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Matisyahu - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Reel Big Fish - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Say Anything - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Wed 07/09/08 Story Of The Year - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Wed 07/09/08 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park

Fri 07/11/08 Chris Rock - Fox Theatre

Thu 07/17/08 Candlebox - Center Stage (3 hit wonder, but damn those were 3 GREAT songs!)
Thu 07/17/08 The Kings Royal - Center Stage

Sun 07/20/08 All-American Rejects - Mall Of Georgia

Sun 07/20/08 Bryan Adams - Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park
Sun 07/20/08 Foreigner - Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park

Fri 07/25/08 Butch Walker - Center Stage (I will certainly be at either the Friday or Saturday shows...earth to shari! come in!)
Fri 07/25/08 Jesse Malin - Center Stage

Sat 07/26/08 Butch Walker - Center Stage
Sat 07/26/08 Jesse Malin - Center Stage

Sat 07/26/08 311 - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sat 07/26/08 Fiction Plane - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sat 07/26/08 Snoop Dogg - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Sun 08/03/08 Cheap Trick - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Sun 08/03/08 Heart - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Sun 08/03/08 Journey - Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Sun 08/03/08 "Projekt Revolution" - Lakewood Amphitheatre (This may get classified as a "can't miss" for me)
Sun 08/03/08 10 Years - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sun 08/03/08 Atreyu - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sun 08/03/08 Busta Rhymes - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sun 08/03/08 Chris Cornell - Lakewood Amphitheatre (Nurse Kim!!!!!!!!!)
Sun 08/03/08 Hawthorne Heights - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sun 08/03/08 Linkin Park - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sun 08/03/08 The Bravery - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Mon 08/04/08 Cheap Trick - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Mon 08/04/08 Heart - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Mon 08/04/08 Journey - Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Tue 08/12/08 "Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival" - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Tue 08/12/08 Black Tide - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Tue 08/12/08 Disturbed - Lakewood Amphitheatre
Tue 08/12/08 Slipknot - Lakewood Amphitheatre

Wed 08/13/08 Nine Inch Nails - The Arena At Gwinnett Center

Sun 08/17/08 Blues Traveler - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Sun 08/17/08 Collective Soul - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Sun 08/17/08 Live - Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Sat 08/23/08 Stone Temple Pilots - Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park

Fri 08/29/08 "The Regeneration Tour" - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Fri 08/29/08 A Flock Of Seagulls - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Fri 08/29/08 ABC - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Fri 08/29/08 Belinda Carlisle - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Fri 08/29/08 Naked Eyes - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Fri 08/29/08 The Human League - Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Sat 09/06/08 Carlos Mencia - Fox Theatre

Sat 09/20/08 Jim Gaffigan - Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (As much as I really would want to, too much $$$ and a bad weekend! I've got Mets @ Braves to suffer through and Wake Forest @ FSU)

Wed 09/24/08 The Mars Volta - The Tabernacle

Wed 10/01/08 The Kills - The Tabernacle
Wed 10/01/08 The Raconteurs - The Tabernacle

Thu 10/02/08 Lewis Black - Fox Theatre

Still have no clue where or what the Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park is!!!! Let me know if anyone's interested in going to any of these. I'm not saying i'd go to every one of these, but I could be convinced...try me!

Trying to Get Back to Normal

I promise no more depressing blogs for a while after this one...

Its been a week and a half since Hayden left us and it still doesn't seem real. I think about him everyday and I can still hear his voice in my head. Mostly either yelling at Monty (his dog) or Scott (his little brother) but still, just doesn't seem real. I've been amazed at how many people Hayden touched in his days. Just look at the number of visits I've gotten at this blog over the last couple of weeks:

June 5 … 24

June 4 … 46

June 3 … 43

June 2 … 55

June 1 … 70

May 31 … 58

May 30 … 84

May 29 … 109

May 28 … 155

May 27 … 232

May 26 … 181

May 25 … 11

May 24 … 2

May 23 … 14

May 22 … 8

May 21 … 9

May 20 … 13

May 19 … 9

May 18 … 10

Almost all of those have been through people googling Hayden. Then looking at all the comments here and all of the responses on his facebook page, unbelievable. I don't know if you need to be a member of facebook to read everything, but some of the posts on his "wall" show how great of a kid he was. A couple of girls are planning on getting his initials tattooed!!! We miss you Hayden!

To pile on, my grandmother (Bubbie) lost her brother last night...on her birthday! He had been sick and in the hospital for a while, and is truly in a better place now. It's just unfortunate that she has to go through all of this right now. I love you Bub!

On a completely unrelated note and definitely not depressing news, congrats to my two favorite and most important Kim's in my life! First, my sister Kim, accepted a new job with the Federal Reserve! Finally no more 80 hour work weeks! Then my friend "Nurse" Kim is graduating (and I know I'm saying this wrong) anaesthesia school in October and just accepted a job at a hospital in Huntsville, Alabama which apparently blew her away with their offer. Congrats to Kim's everywhere!

Hayden Lee Rosenstein (1986-2008 RIP)

I'm not really good at this sort of writing, but the Zaikov family suffered a pretty serious tragedy. My cousin Hayden suddenly passed away this morning at the WAY too young age of 21. Its way too early and I don't know all (any) of the details, but it really doesn't matter, my cousin was taken away from our family and it just doesn't quite seem fair.

UPDATE (5/28): As it turns out, Hayden had not been feeling well for a couple of weeks. Doctors couldn't figure out what the problem was. He was given a green light to go on a trip to Europe for a month. What the doctors did not pick up on was a virus was attacking his heart. And he died from a heart attack...at the age of 21. Even typing that out, it just will never make sense to me or anyone else in this family. We love you Hayden and you will be with us forever.

I encourage everyone to share whatever stories of Hayden you may have here in the comments section.